Hey there! So about a month ago I switched to WordPress. I’ll be honest here. If I said I wasn’t having second thoughts throughout the actual process I would be lying. My laptop almost found itself smashed to smithereens against my wall. However, now that I’m situated I’m glad I went through those wretched two or three days and I am loving WordPress. Seriously.
On my Resources page, I have a link to A Royal Daughter’s series of Blogger vs WordPress. If you are having any thoughts about moving to WordPress (or are just curious as to the differences between the two platforms), I urge you to go read it. She did a great job explaining the differences between the two platforms and I’m not even going to compete with that.
Do I look down on bloggers who are on the Blogger platform? Absolutely not. It’s a big investment of time (and money) being a blogger, and when you move to WordPress you also incur hosting fees. However, after Google decided that my website design site was generating spam (which it wasn’t) they deleted my site, at least temporarily. I was not even able to access it through my Blogger dashboard. Not fun, people. Not fun.
If you have decided to make the switch, and are planning on doing it yourself, I advise that you do all your research first. This is not something you dive into head first and wish for the best. I did, and I immediately returned to Blogger (this was only a 40-minute ordeal) until I did some homework. I switched my A record on my DNS settings and after I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it, I switched my A record back. A big thanks to Lauren for holding my hand through that.
Now, for the part I was procrastinating on talking about: my personal experience with moving to WordPress. Without naming any names (as I hired someone to do the transfer for me) let’s just leave it at this: do your research when you are hiring someone to do this for you (and I definitely recommend hiring someone to do it for you). Ask for references…RECENT references. Talk to those references. Ask them about their experience and if they would recommend the person you’re hiring. I hired someone who did a great job in the past, but has dropped the ball recently and I would not recommend them now.
The best thing that came out of it was that I had to learn how to do a Blogger to WordPress transfer myself in order to correct many mistakes. Many mistakes. One of which left my domain name floating in cyberspace, and another that killed my traffic. I was NOT a happy camper.
I just installed my first design on WordPress, and I am currently working on my first Blogger to WordPress transfer for another blogger. Wish me luck, and I’ll reveal who it is once we finish her transfer!
Update: I now offer Blogger to WordPress migrations
I couldn’t let other bloggers go through what I went through. Hire me and I promise you will have a smooth transition! You’ll be in contact with me every step of the way via text messages and/or e-mail.
Amanda says
What’s not to love about this post! I hope EVERYONE uses you!
Lisette says
Thanks love! Can’t wait until you reveal your secret work ;)
Tiara W. says
So glad that you posted this as I’ve been thinking about moving to wordpress along with a blog overhaul. My BBF builds websites and also has been on me to do the transfer. What are your thoughts about changing blog names?
Lisette says
Hey dear! Definitely move to WordPress!
What’s your current domain name and blog name? Your Disqus profile doesn’t have a link to your blog!
Tiara W. says
Oh no I better fix that — stat! Thanks. My blog Ice Cream and French Fries (http://icecreamandfrenchfries.blogspot.com/)
Rachel Silski says
Your transfer scared me!! Not sure I will ever go over!
Lisette says
Don’t be scared! If the right person does it for you, you will be A-OKAY!
Ginny says
I did the SAME thing. Days of crying and threats to my computer. All good now – but not fun :)
Lisette says
No fun. Where did you get stuck?
Ginny says
I got stuck with bad dns propagation – but got through it!
Lisette says
well…that sounds hairy! what in the world?
Kate Jordan says
Well done on battling the Blogger to Wordpress experience! I recently just did the same but I had a lot of previous experience with Wordpress so although it was hard and made me want to cry at times, at least I had some prior knowledge as to the basics of Wordpress.
I applaud your efforts! And look where you are now from it. Worth it :)
Lisette says
Thanks lady! Great job on your site! Just visited :)
Kate Jordan says
Thank you lovely :) I hope I put you at ease about the gyros situation :P
Niki says
Lauren is awesome! And being in the middle of a transfer, well on the tail end, I kind of wish I did my research! I’m running into some pretty big nightmares – one happens to be that my email via my domain host just completely stopped working. Kind of a big deal. Anyway, I’m going to read that series now! I am dying to know who you hired…
Lisette says
Is niki @ glossyblonde.com a good address to e-mail you at, or is that the one with the problem?
Call your host. My e-mail stopped working too and they helped me reconfigure the DNS settings along with the A record.
Niki says
I have a guy on it! Actually – he just got it working again! woo hoo! And yes you can (now) email me at niki(at)glossyblonde(dot)com! :)
Ashley Nevis says
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for this post! I’ve been seriously contemplating making the switch, and these resources are helpful! It’s also nice to hear from someone who did it recently and made it out on the other side :)
Lisette says
As cheesy as it sounds, you’ll never be alone. We understand the frustrations of this change… so count on us WordPress ppl!
Postcards from Rachel says
I’m glad you got through your experience without killing anyone. ;)
Jo-Anne says
Great post I have a blogger blog and a wordpress blog because I am a gluten for punishment……….lol……………..you are bloody amazing blogger……
Holly Higgins says
My husband has only used Wordpress and he loves it. A good friend of mine just transferred her blog over as well. For now, I’m perfectly happy with Blogger. It’s easy to use and I’m not one for change :-) I’m glad everything worked out in the end for you though!
Taylor says
I’ve been doing some thinking about re-branding and was planning to just change my design. Then thought about how much I’ve been hearing you talk about how you loved that you switched to Wordpress. And now I can’t decide if it’s worth the trouble! Definitely going to check out the post you mentioned above about the pro’s and con’s!
sarah goodman says
i cant wait to hop on this bandwagon with your help! :)
way to go girl!
Chantal says
I’ve never been on blogger, I was always wordpress hosted so I really can’t comment on the process of transfers but I can imagine it would be a little daunting (to say the least).
Christina says
congrats on making the switch! I have been thinking about it, but IDK.
xo
Christina
pieceitalltogetherx3.blogspot.com
Sara Louise says
I’m so happy you’ve posted about your experience. I’ve been considering making the transfer. I’m going to pin your post and read it about fifty more times and then have a good long think :)
Mei says
I am in the middle of the transfer myself. I’m having issues with post formatting…. uggg! It’s driving me crazy!
I’m sure I’ll get it all worked out soon!
Happy Monday!
Mei @ Diary of a Fair Weather Diver
Audrey says
I love your post! And I totally feel what you feel about WordPress – it’s so exquisite and so simple at the same time! I just adore the welcome screen where you can do all things a starter should do just by a click – no nned to search for something…
And you know, I did my homework and migrated by myself- about 3 days ago (well, not quite by myself as I used an online converter http://www.cms2cms.com) – I can’t imagine doing all the technical stuff myself, but this was pretty easy, the only part now is how do I redirect my followers to my new blog? How did you cope with this?
Lisette says
You have to make your old blogger post feed URL match your Wordpress feed. Basically: http://domain.com/feed
HELLOKATZI says
Congrats on the successful switch! I’ve been blogging through blogger as well and made a fresh one here on wordpress. I’m still so confused with how the theme works. Can’t add plugins. Should I get a host to be able to use plugins? I’m so lost right now. :(